COPYRIGHT NOTICE
.COPYRGT.Copyright 1997-99, William Zarillo and John P. Diamond, Jr. All rights reserved.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the USPTO patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for exercising and strengthening muscles of the human body.
2. Problem to be Solved
Abdominal weakness is a common problem. Physicians and personal trainers have advocated the use of the "sit-up" and/or exercise as a means of strengthening abdominal muscles. However, these conventional methods of sit-ups or crunches are ineffective and inefficient because they involve more of the hip-flexors than the abdominals.
Conventional devices for exercising and strengthening abdominal muscles are inefficient because the effort expended by the users of such devices is predominately directed to exercising the hip flexor rather than strengthening the abdominal muscles. Furthermore, many conventional exercise devices overdevelop the hip flexors, particularly the iliopsoas, which can contribute to the pouching of the lower abdominal area.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a muscle strengthening apparatus for exercising and strengthening abdominal muscles which solves the aforementioned problems related to traditional sit-up exercises and addresses the deficiencies of conventional devices.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a muscle strengthening apparatus for exercising and strengthening abdominal muscles and which also simultaneously exercises and strengthens other muscles.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a muscle strengthening apparatus for exercising and strengthening abdominal and other muscles that is easy to use.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a muscle strengthening apparatus for exercising and strengthening abdominal muscles that is inexpensive to manufacture.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.